A warning label is attached to a package of Tide laundry detergent packets in Houston on Thursday, May 24, 2012. The miniature detergent packets arrived on store shelves in recent months, touted as a solution to bulky bottles and messy spills. But doctors across the country say children are confusing the tiny, brightly colored packets with candy and swallowing them. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)

Schumer tempted to eat ‘delicious’ laundry detergent

At a Sunday press conference calling for stricter rules on concentrated laundry detergent pod packaging that some children have mistaken for candy, New York Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer admitted that even he has felt drawn to down a few detergent pods himself.

“The incidents are skyrocketing,” the New York Daily News reported Schumer said during a joint press conference with medical professionals. “These pods were supposed to make household chores easier, not tempt our children to swallow harmful chemicals. I saw one on my staffer’s desk and I wanted to eat it.”

According to Schumer, during the last six months 40 New York children have fallen victim to the pods, mistaking them for food, only to end up hospitalized. He added that by the end of June, there had been 1,210 nationwide instances of children eating detergent packs.

The New York senator — who added, “I don’t know why they make them look so delicious” — called on the Consumer Product Safety Commission to impose tighter regulations on the the packaging for the colorful one-time use laundry detergents.